A History of RED LAKE COUNTY,
Minnesota

Red Lake
County's
TOP TEN Historical Events

Are these the top ten historical events in Red Lake
County, Minnesota?

1798
Jean Baptiste Cadotte Jr., while wintering at a Northwest Company
trading post at the junction of the Red Lake and Clearwater rivers in
present day Red Lake Falls is visited by geographer and surveyor
David Thompson in March of 1798.

1863In 1863 a treaty was signed between the Red Lake and Pembina
bands of the Chippewa Indians and the U.S. government at the Old
Crossing of the Red Lake River opening eleven million acres of land
to eventual settlement.

1876
In 1876 Pierre Bottineau, the famous Metis guide, brought the first
settlers to the area, 119 families of French Canadian descent from
St. Paul and Canada who founded the towns of Red Lake Falls and
Gentilly, in what was then Polk County.

1878
Ernest Buse and Otto Kankel built the first mill in the county on the
Clearwater River in Red Lake Falls highlighting the abundant water
power that attracted industry and settlers to the area.

1896
Red Lake County (including present-day Pennington County) separated
from Polk County on Dec. 26, 1896 with Red Lake Falls as the county
seat,

1904
The Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (Soo Line)
was built through the eastern part of Red Lake County in 1904 giving
rise to the communities of Plummer and Brooks.

1909
A second branch of the Soo Line Railroad enters the county from the
east along which the community of Oklee is founded.

1911
Pennington County separates from Red Lake County after construction
had begun on a new court house in Red Lake Falls which is currently
listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1918
On Aug. 13, 1918 some of the last remaining pre-prohibition saloons
in northern Minnesota are closed by the Minnesota Public Safety
Commission in a surprise raid on Red Lake County.

1956
Coya Knutson of Oklee in 1956 became the first woman from the State
of Minnesota to be elected to Congress of the United States where she
served in the House of Representatives for two terms.